Hold Onto Me
by Charlotte LilyWhite
Summary: 12 gems of the Zodiac. Gangsters. Abandoned young sisters. Aliens. End of the World. How can these five concepts ever be connected, right? Hell, we're wrong. Alice had just seen the beginning when her brother joined the Mafia. AU
1. Chapter 1

God Damnit! I have a passion for AUs nowadays, I dunno why! My SpaBel sensation was tinkling, so this was born in an English class while teaching about the relationships between siblings and hoodlums.

Disclaimer – I don't own Hetalia. Big surprise, I know…

Alice – Belgium

Lars – Netherlands

On with the story!

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><p><em>Another day passed with no sign of brother…<em>

Alice sighed and hugged her jacket tightly to her chest, hoping to reduce the cold that was enveloping her. 9 'o' clock in the night was really not the time for a girl to go wandering along the streets, but to Alice, it was necessarily important. Even if she suffered the bone-chilling cold, it didn't matter one bit to her, because she had gone to her brother's favorite tree house to go place his favorite wine bottle in hopes of his coming back, and it helped to lift her sad spirits up a bit.

As Alice walked along the lane, the memory of Lars opening the door and saying that he'll be right back was still fresh in her mind. He gave her a goodbye kiss and was gone, and that was the last time she ever saw him. That was 8 months ago. Now, Alice lived all by herself, mourning the loss of her brother.

Lars was a heavy drinker. Naturally, the Police concluded his missing to that he might have been dizzy and got hit by a van after he got drunk. The very thought frightened Alice, but when they said that there were no casualties anywhere, she was relieved.

The other fact that the Police suspected was that her brother might have been taken hostage by the Mafia gang which was internationally infamous. With an all-in-all count of 178 crimes, which consisted of 110 robberies, 16 murders, and 52 money counterfeits, the Police had tried to catch them but to no avail. They never left fingerprints, never made any sound while they did the crime, went pass the security cameras by placing virus into it so that it showed the same image over and over, even sprayed the room with a strong perfume so that the dogs can't catch the smell, and try as they might, the Police could never catch their spies. They work they did was as simple and easy as cleaning a room.

Alice shivered at the thought. What if he really was taken by the Mafia? What if she never saw him again? What if they …?

So conversed was she with her thoughts that she did not see the time had passed and she had reached her house. Taking the brass key from her coat pocket, she was about to insert it to the lock, when she noticed something.

The door was unlocked.

Alice's eyes widened. She did recall locking the door before she went out. _'How did it….?'_ She hyper-ventilated. Had someone entered her house?

Alice made no second thoughts. She opened the door and barged in. Taking a knife from the kitchen counter, she armed herself and looked around. The lights were still on. The room was as she had left it. Nothing was stolen, nor was there any sign of life. She breathed a sigh of relief.

Locking the door, she removed her jacket, scarf and hat, and placed it on her cloth-hanger. Yawning loudly, she decided to go to bed without any dinner to catch up her lost sleep she had missed yesterday when she had been doing excess work. She opened her bedroom, and, without even bothering to change into night clothes, she slumped onto her bed. Feeling the soft fabric of the bed sheets she was lying on, her eyelids threatened to fall down and coaxed her to fall asleep. She was about to enter Dreamland when….

"Your bedroom's quite nice, senorita Alice."

Alice shot up. Muttering curses in both Belgian and English, she looked around, alarmed. Who, in the name of Hell, had entered her house, and dared to wake her up in this time of night? Her eyes widened again.

There, in the faint light of the moon, she traced the silhouette of a figure sitting in her computer chair, legs crossed.

"W….Who the hell are you?" Alice was petrified, as she noticed that the person was not definitely a girl, "And….and how did you k…know my name?"

She heard the intruder chuckle and got up from his place, and approached her.

"Why, everyone knows your name, Alice Van Willigen."

Alice's breath hitched in her throat. She could feel the intruder approach her with small but steady steps, and as he stepped into a part of the room where the moonlight was shone most, she finally saw him. Tanned skin, messy black hair, and forest green eyes that stared right through her. She gasped.

"Antonio."

The said person chuckled again. Alice froze as the Mafia Boss gently lifted her chin up to meet his eyes.

"You are as beautiful and brilliant as your brother said you were, Alice."

Alice's eyes shot up with anger and revenge. "You! You took him away!" She exclaimed and pushed him harshly, and grabbing the knife kept in her reading table, she threatened it in front of his face. "I demand to know what you did to my brother!"

"Is everything alright there, Antonio?" Another voice came up from her roof.

Antonio glanced at her before replying. "Ms. Van Willigen is not….. the most understanding woman, Alfred."

She heard Alfred groan. "Should I come in there as well?"

"That won't be necessary, I'll tell her everything." He was telling this as though it was a piece of cake issue. "And we can go home peacefully and with no hard feelings."

Alice made a disgusted sound. She going with this goon? Not in this lifetime!

She raised her knife and prepared to strike into the Boss' chest while he was not looking. But as she lowered it, suddenly she felt a hand stopping her.

"No weaponry, Alice." He mock-reprimanded, and his grip on her increased by the second. Try as she might, she couldn't wriggle or squirm it out.

"Now be a good girl, and place it somewhere you won't try to attack me again." He said as he turned her.

Alice could do nothing but to obey if she valued her life. Tears threatened to fall down, and she unwillingly surrendered and placed her knife on the cupboard.

"Now, that's a disciplined girl." He whispered huskily into her ear, which made shivers go down her spine, "And listen to me carefully before you get any misinterpretations."

"And what is that? To go with you and sell me as a sex slave?" She asked, valiantly.

Antonio clearly did not like that answer. She could tell that by the grip on her wrists that was tightening as a punishment to her.

"Your brother has actually sent me here." He was outwardly calm.

"How could that be? You gangsters killed him!"

"For God's sake Fernandez!" Alfred exclaimed from above. "Get the girl and let's get going! The police is about to make its patrols now!"

Antonio turned to her after he heard Alfred's exclamation. "You hear that? We have not much time."

Alice turned towards him so that she was facing him in the eye. "I will never come with you."

"But it's insane! Lars is alive, and we did not kill him or keep him hostage as the damned Police must've told you. He is a member of our group."

Alice's eyes widened. She kept chanting to herself that this was wrong. It was wrong! Her dear brother would never do anything like that!

"No!" She yelled. "You're lying! Lars would never do such a thing! He's not a gangster!"

Antonio's eyes suddenly softened at the innocence portrayed by the girl. She was so pure, so… unknowing to all the power and infamous glory held by her loved brother. She would as much give up all of this just to spend one day with him. Loyalty and fraternity was the only things she held in her mind.

"I believe it's the hard truth, senorita…" He said softly, as he pulled her into an awkward hug and proceeded to place a stray blonde hair from her forehead. He found it extremely hard to take her with them, and then to corrupt her so innocent soul, so oblivious to knowing what crimes her brother and his group mates did everyday. "You must come with us, and trust me with my own life, your brother's heart will crush if you won't…."

She was in a dilemma. Hundreds of unanswered questions crossed her mind. Should she go with them? Was Lars really in their hands? Was Antonio telling the truth?

Maybe. Maybe he is.

"You're…..telling the truth?"

Antonio nodded.

"Then I'm coming with you." She said sadly.

Antonio smiled and gently lifted her chin again, this time to claim her bright red lips as his own, but then suddenly….

"Don't you dare touch her."

He froze and looked at the window sill. Another silhouette, this time guaranteed a female, was sitting with some sort of thing in her hand, possibly a weapon, and her glaring eyes was clearly not inviting and could pierce a hole through you. She had a black jacket, possibly to meld with the night surroundings, along with a short black skirt, black stockings and black gloves. She gracefully jumped onto her room, and with no warning, struck the Mafia Boss with one blow of her weapon, which turned out to be a frying pan. He was out cold in a second. Victoriously, she then turned to Alice.

"Alice Van Willigen, I presume?"

Alice nodded nervously. She felt the girl smile and pat her cheek friendly.

"Elizaveta Hedervary. Pleasure to meet you."

The former's eyes widened as the latter made some sort of whistling sound with her tongue and within moments, a silver-haired beauty arrived from the window, a knife held alert in her hand.

"What did I miss? Did brother come?"

"Nothing much, Natalya. Just knocked out old Antonio here, and no, Ivan didn't come."

Natalya sighed as she tucked her knife onto her black stocking garter, and nimbly entered the room. Alice noticed that her dress was the same as Elizaveta's but she had a garter and no gloves. She also noticed that she had a heavy Russian accent even though she spoke English fluently. Natalya looked around and inspected it, and then finally rested her eyes upon Alice. Her stare, Alice thought, was even more deathly than Elizaveta's and could burn you right then and there.

"Is this the girl?" She asked, inquisitively.

Elizaveta nodded. Natalya showed a hand.

"Arlovskaya Natalya." She said and gave Alice a hand to get up on her feet again.

"Well then, we must get moving then." Elizaveta exclaimed while she rubbed her palms in anticipation. "Someone will be here any minute to take her off again."

"What?" Alice exclaimed. She just wanted to see her brother and they now wanted her to go with them? _'This night is just madness.'_ She thought.

"They said they will take me to my Brother! I should go with them." Elizaveta and Natalya turned their heads to face her.

A while passed with silence. Then Elizaveta sighed and exclaimed.

"Yeah, yeah, that's what they all say. Come on kiddo, we need to go before sunrise."

"But…brother?"

"Do you honestly think your brother wants you there suddenly now that he's all mafia?" Elizaveta asked, her voice suddenly becoming convincing and cold at the same time. "Think about it Alice, do you want to become like your brother?"

Alice was shocked at the feeling of how true the words were. She looked at them and then to Antonio, still not awake, and contemplated the matter. Should she betray her one and only family, or should she stay faithful to humanity?

It was such a tough choice. To think, all those murdering and robbing, just for the sake of the greed for money, was it worth it?

No. She said it herself. It wasn't worth it. If brother really loved her, he would abandon this and would come back to her.

"Let's go then," said Alice, her voice heavy and sad, at the thought. Elizaveta came near her and hugged her.

"Antonio?" Alfred's voice came again, this time indignantly as he entered the room from the roof by the window. Just as he set eyes on the two girls who were present, he froze. "W... what the…? Jesus Christ! Not this again!"

Natalya nudged to them. "Elizaveta, Alice, just get the hell out as fast as you can."

"Well, what about you?" Alice asked.

"Leave me, don't worry. I'll be back soon. I've just…. got a score to settle." She replied, and grabbing the knife from her garter, she cracked her knuckles unladylike, to emphasize the point.

Alfred smirked. "Still the valiant one, eh Nat?"

Natalya frowned. "прыносіць яго на, Альфрэд."

Those Belarusian words and the immediate sound of guns and knifes following after were the last sound she heard before Elizaveta and pushed her out of the window harshly. She felt herself falling and falling and then everything suddenly becoming black. Hearing the faint 'thud' sound which signified her landing, she collapsed into unconsciousness.

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><p>Ta-da!~ HetaOni is just…. lurve. :D<p>

"прыносіць яго на, Альфрэд." – Belarusian for "Bring it on, Alfred"

I figured that the girls need a bit more attention, you know, Hetalia is centred around the boys, but anyways I'm not complaining. The history of the Enmity between the gals and guys will be revealed in the next chapter, and even though romance is not the main genre, hopefully pairings will pop up!

Decided Pairings as of now are-

SpaBel (main)

FrUk

PruHun

AmeBela (implied)

CanUkr (implied)

TaiJap

SeyUk (implied)

And… Who should I pair Vietnam with? You decide and tell me in your review~

I'll be continuing my previous story soon, just that this has been in my mind for like, months.

Ciao, y'all! Updating soon!


	2. Chapter 2

_And Welcome back to the second chapter of Hold Onto Me! *claps claps* What, no one's clapping for me? -.- *sighs*_

_Annsmi – Thanks a lot for your review! I love SpaBel too! Yeah the girl below also wanted VietChi. It's one of my OTP too, but I figured that Russia would want someone too care after, and RoChu is not bad either. But I'll look into it. What's a story without some Yaoi? 8D_

_Hiyorin – :D Your review is just love. We share the same OTPs (well except AusMona and IceLiech, I prefer AusHun and ItaLiech xD) but anyways, Thanks!_

_Otori Kyouya – Thanks! I don't ship AmeViet that much, and already since I've made America's history, so most probably it will be brotherly like or past lovers or something like that. But anyway thanks again!_

_Mi3star – AusHun? YAY! *dances around* XDD pfft, sorry . PruHun is onesided, but AusHun is complete! Well HongTai can't be helped, sorry. D:_

_ThaiViet? Hmm, will think into it. Thanks :D_

_Disclaimer - I not own Hetalia. Derp._

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><p>The next thing she knew after she regained consciousness was the sound of a soft harp music with singing near by, and the feeling of something cozy below her. She fluttered her eyes and looked around weakly. Her head was still throbbing with a mild pain, and her body ached all over. Keeping those body problems aside, she turned her attention towards figuring out where she was. Last night's memory was not clear, and she had a good mind to say that she wanted to go home. She furrowed her eyebrows and strained to recognize the place.<p>

She was on a white mattress with a white blanket, and so naturally it was soft. The room held a gorgeous fragrance, and in the corner of the room, she noticed a small natural pond with bonsai trees and water lilies. The whole place was lit up with scented candles, and with the music, it looked like it was a miniature spa.

She then turned her attention towards the girl. She could the catch the blurry sight of a flower-adorned raven, singing softly. She could tell that by the accent in which she sang, that she was Asian. She also looked like one, perhaps Korean or Chinese. Tired by straining her eyes too much to focus, she collapsed onto her fluffy bed.

"Ish 'hat, can'onese?"

"You're awake," Said the girl with the melodious voice. "And no, I was singing Mandarin."

Alice gave an amused snort. She was glad that someone was near her, her head was filled with all sorts of questions and she wanted to ask the girl where she was, how she did get there, and the events of yesterday night. But she did not recall the girl with her last night.

Her head started aching again. "I… when did I arrive here?"

The Asian girl laughed. "Yesterday morning. Why?"

Alice gaped. "I… so I was not brought here last night? Do you mean to tell me that I've been asleep for a whole day?"

"Yes."

Alice cursed. "I don't remember anything," She said, in a frustrated tone, trying to see where Natalya and Elizaveta is, "Can you at least tell me…?"

"You must be wondering where you are, huh?" The girl asked, smiling again. She got up and went to the closed French window situated at the corner of the room. Opening the Venetian blinds, she showed Alice the scenery outside.

Alice got up from her mattress and looked outside the window to get an idea of where she was. She noticed that she was looking out from the second-storey of a posh building, possibly a castle belonging to some aristocrat, and then she noticed the entrance of the house. It was extravagant and elegant, just like some royal house should look. It was situated in the peak of a cliff, overlooking the blue sea. She could hear and see the waves crash onto the rocks situated at the steep hill.

Just down the gravel driveway which led to the castle, she noticed a board. It was written with something shiny, possibly gold, with neat Italic letters in a language she knew-French.

"Mr. Bonnefoy, Le Trèport, France?" She asked, taking in the words written and turning towards the girl near for some clue. How the hell did she get to France? The girl in reply just shrugged her shoulders but then she took Alice's hand and showed her way outside the room.

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><p>"I'm Mei Lin, by the way…." The Asian girl said and showed a hand, as she led Alice through the big and posh corridors towards, by what she said, the Dining Room. She was considerably friendly, and seemed to know a great deal about Alice.<p>

"Oh!" Said Alice, and suddenly remembering her manners, returned Mei's shake hand. "I'm Alice. Alice Van Willigen."

The girl giggled. "Of course I know that silly! Everyone knows your name!"

Alice was surprised. She hadn't met anyone except Natalya, Elizaveta and Mei Lin. How did she become so popular?

"Really? How?"

Mei Lin laughed again. She seemed to find this amusing.

"You are our newest refuge." She explained, as she told her the events of the past few days, "We were expecting you ever since Elizaveta said that the Mafia gang had already set their eyes on capturing you, so we needed to rescue you as soon as possible.

"Natalya and Elizaveta had gone to rescue you from Belgium. Unfortunately, they had some trouble along the way from the mafia and they were a bit late on rescuing you. But luckily, they outsmarted them, and taking the unconscious you to our car, they drove here as fast as they can."

"But that still doesn't answer my doubt." Alice said, wiping her nose off a little tinge of blood, "Why are we here?"

"Oh, I didn't tell you about that, now did I?" Mei Lin grinned, stopped in her tracks, and pulled out a large yellow map. Alice leaned forward to get a clear view of it. Inside it, were several red-marked points in different countries that didn't make any sense to her. As she was about to ask her question, Mei Lin pointed her index finger to the town they were currently residing.

"This," She began, "….is Le Trèport, where we are now. Next week, we'll change our headquarters to…." She contemplated, placing her finger on her chin, and turned the map towards the country of Seychelles, where another red-mark was situated in the city of Quatre Bornes.

"Ah, next week, we'll change our headquarters to Michelle's homeland."

"Michelle?" Alice asked, astounded, "Are…. Are there more like… like us?"

Mei Lin nodded. "There are about 9 more others, including myself, Natalya and Elizaveta."

"And they all have the…the same fate?" Alice was quite unsure of asking such a question.

Mei Lin nodded sadly.

Alice raised an eyebrow in confusion. "What do you mean? Is your brother or someone in the family a gangster now?"

Mei Lin nodded sadly, and they continued to resume walking towards the dining hall.

"All of my brothers are in the Mafia."

"T… That's terrible!" Alice exclaimed, shocked. Can anyone become this ruthless and abandon their sister? "How… When…?"

"Yeah, it happened when I was about 14. It was a bit of a shock at first, ever since Yao told me to pack up one day and come with them to America. Only Kiku disagreed, he wanted me to have a good life."

"Seems like your second brother cares for you a bit more." Alice said.

Mei Lin blushed, and tried hard to hide her red face. "Um…. yeah, I liked Kiku more than anyone else. He was the one who actually listened to me. Yong Soo was an irritating brother-stalker and I don't know when Leon showed any emotion. Yao… well, let's just say everything went for the worst."

Alice was beyond shocked after hearing all this. She felt extremely bad for Mei Lin, who lost all her 4 brothers, and here she was, lamenting about one single brother.

"I'm so sorry."

"No, don't be." Mei Lin faked a sloppy smile. "I'm quite happy here, ever since Elizaveta saved me and told me to go with her where I'll be safe. And besides, we have more other things to worry about."

"Like what?" What other things to worry about than the fact that their brothers are gangsters?

Mei Lin stopped again and looked around in caution. When she realized that no-one was looking, she looked at Alice straight in the eye, and it looked like she was piercing a hole through her.

"Do you know why we keep changing our headquarters and why we were so keen in rescuing you?"

Alice shook her head. Before she could say anything, Mei Lin grabbed Alice's hair, and untied her neatly tied hair band and looked closely on it, ignoring Alice's cries of protests. As she revealed the bright orange ribbon, she saw a small orange sparkling gem embedded in it. Suddenly, Alice realized that she hadn't noticed that gem for a long time and only became aware of its presence now.

Mei Lin's eyes narrowed.

"That gem," She explained, "… is a Capriconus. Where did you get it?"

"I…. uh," Alice tried to trace her memory to something that the gem was connected. Finally, she remembered that it was in her hand when she was about 5 years old and when her grandmother gave it to her before her death. Lars was surprisingly very interested about it then.

She didn't want to talk about all this to a newly met girl, so she hurriedly thought of a lie to convince her.

"I…. I bought it in a jewelry shop," Alice lied. "It was a 50% sale so…."

"Lies!" Mei Lin hissed, as her cheerful mood began to vanish. "It was given by someone in your family, right?"

"Yeah, I… I suppose so…" Alice stuttered, now becoming very uncomfortable with the unstable Mei Lin.

"….Someone in your family was related to the wood spirits," Mei Lin interrupted her again. "One of Capricorn. And they gave it to you."

"Capricorn?" Alice asked, confused, "As is in the…?"

"…The 10th sign of the Zodiac, yes." Mei Lin interrupted, nodding. "Personifications of those constellations once lived throughout the Earth. Their power was sealed inside these gems, and if it was to be destroyed, the constellation would die with it.

"They were mortals, unlike gods, so naturally they passed on the gems to their off springs before their deaths. And that's how it went to the hands of your grandmother, and onto you. You have Capricorn blood running in your blood vessels."

Alice's eyes widened. Her family was related to some…some weird half-goat? What she thought was still now a fantasy story was becoming real. What other surprising things awaited her, she wondered.

"We're all part of the circle." Mei Lin said, as she pulled out her flower from her hair, "For example, I'm a descendant of Sagittarius, and I have a Turquoise gem inside this."

Alice looked at the green gem in awe. There were more like her? She couldn't wait to see them.

"Elizaveta has an Aries. If you look closely in her small carnation in her head, you'll see a red gem. That's a Diamond. Since the gem is the holder of the constellation's powers, automatically we control their powers too."

"Cool!" Alice exclaimed, quite liking the idea, and rubbing her hands in anticipation. "Do I have powers too?"

"Unfortunately, no." Mei Lin said, bringing down Alice's hopes, "A descendant can only activate his or her powers in the gem if he or she saves someone from death."

Alice was visibly disappointed. But Mei Lin held her shoulder.

"Your time will come soon. But it's best if you don't hold any emotional attachment to it. It has to go soon."

"Why?" Alice asked. She had not expected the gem to go soon, no matter what the reason was.

"The gem is also a curse. The reason why our ancestors passed it on to their descendants is that, they had foreseen a disaster. A disaster that would bring the apocalypse down to the Earth that would destroy everything."

"But what apocalypse?" Alice was perturbed by the news.

"The invasion of Aliens." She gulped.

"They knew that those aliens release a certain type of toxic substance that will bring immediate hemorrhage to our body organs and die if we are to go anywhere near it. The only escape from this disaster is to place all the gems in a special pedestal in the North Pole that would open a rare potion that would save the humans from the aliens' poison.

Our brothers had already known this matter beforehand that this would be coming soon, so they decided to have all the gems and save themselves."

"So they don't care about anyone else, I suppose." Alice was beyond shocked by all this.

"Exactly. We thought it would be better if we distributed it throughout the World, so everyone shall have a portion, no matter how small it is, to keep them going for the longest time possible. The Mafia disagreed to this, and we have been enemies with them ever since."

"Are all of us here part of this….this…descendents-of-the-Zodiac thing?" Alice asked, before realizing that she might have touched the nerve of the unstable Mei Lin.

This time Mei Lin laughed, her cheerful mood coming in her face again. She sped up her pace to walking towards their destination again, and Alice followed her dutifully.

"Not really. But some of them are sisters of the Zodiac-gem holders, like Angelique whose brother is Francis, now in the Mafia, and Renne, my half-sister."

They stopped in front of a large ebony door. They could hear music being played in the violin and constant chattering from inside the room. Mei Lin smiled and shook her head in playful annoyance.

"Those girls." She said before knocking on the door thrice. As if in cue, the chattering stopped and the violin stopped producing music.

Suddenly, there appeared a small slit in the door where a small screen was displayed. A keyboard appeared next down to it, and digital letters formed in the small screen.

'Password?'

Mei Lin typed 6 or so words, and out from the slit came a beeping sound signifying something wrong.

"Oops!" Mei Lin hit her forehead lightly in remembrance, "The password had been changed! Let's see…."

Mei Lin typed 6 different letters this time, and the slit produced a right sound.

'You have been granted entry. Please remember the password next time.'

"Clever." Alice said, impressed as the door opened slowly.

Mei Lin smiled. "Yeah, I made it, with the help of everybody else, of course. Thanks."

Alice's smile fadened as she realized something. A sudden nervousness took control of her. She was about to meet 6 other girls, who she didn't know, and only fate knew if she wouldn't make a fool of herself. What if they didn't like her? What if they say that she was not to stay here? Alice was beyond worried.

And the door opened.

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><p><em>…. And hello people, to my insane and paranoid mind. :P<em>

_CLIFF HANGER! orz, sorry it was so short. I'm busy with my term finals, but I'll update as soon as I can!_

_And can anyone tell me how HetaOni goes? At first I thought it was some gangster duel like stuff, blame Clint Eastwood for that . so I decided to go by that until I realized it was time travel with Pasta-loving ve~ as the main character. So I am trying to link it as I can. Bear with me!_

_Thank you all lovely lovely readers! Zodiac up next!_


	3. Chapter 3

_The boys have made an appearance! :DDD Happy now?_

_Warnings – Some cursing, somewhat Dark!Spain, implied FrUk, AmeBela and SpaBel._

_Angelique - Monaco_

_Michelle - Seychelles_

_Mei Lin - Taiwan. (Y__ou would have figured it by now, yet still... :)_

* * *

><p>Alice found herself staring at the eyes of six girls of about her age, sprawled across the whole of the room, doing god-knows-what who were so very different from each other. They all looked at her with different emotions; one had a deadpanned face, the very next a surprised one, and yet another had one that looked like she was just about to start crying. She was unsure of what to do.<p>

A few moments passed with absolute silence and staring, and both Alice and Mei Lin found this extremely awkward. Until the latter decided it was time they stopped this.

"Ah-hem." Mei Lin cleared her throat to attract their attention towards her. Immediately all 12 eyes landed upon her, as if she was some sort of a teacher and they were the children, ready to hear the announcement being made. She smirked seeing the reaction.

"This is Alice Van Willigen," Started a victorious Mei Lin who had successfully silenced the usual chaos and commotion, "She was rescued yesterday from our two leaders, as her brother was taken in by the Mafia. I expect you guys to treat like she is your family member you've known for years."

Alice, as a response, gave a shaky smile. "Hello."

Still no response. Just the same staring as if she was some Alien. Alice mentally sweat-dropped. Perhaps, this won't go as she thought it would.

Suddenly, with no warning, a short blonde-haired girl who was sitting in the couch reading a book, walked towards them and stood in front if them. She then smiled politely and held out her hand to introduce herself.

"I'm sorry we took so long. My name is Lili Zwingli. Nice to meet you."

Alice eyed the short blonde with surprise. Still unsure of herself, she held out and gathered her shaking hand and Lili's for a hand shake.

"P…. Pleasure!"

God, how she wished she could stop being a nervous air-head sometimes.

Next a twin-tailed black haired girl jumped in front of her, eager to introduce herself. She had an extraordinarily large fish in her hand, which Alice found impossible to even exist in this world, only to realize it was just a stuffed toy.

"Bonjour! Je m'appelle Michelle B… Well, Michelle." The girl had ended her sentence rather abruptly, presumably to hide her father's name. Alice smiled politely and shook her hand with Michelle.

"Bonjour to you too! Còmment çà vas?"

Michelle beamed as if she had saw a large chocolate bar standing right in front of her. Nobody knew French fluently except Angelique, her sister. She was just about to say something in return, when Mei Lin pulled at Alice's hands, motioning her to follow Mei Lin. Alice looked at her.

"You must be hungry, right? We'll go eat something else, and then I'll introduce the others! I'm sorry Chelle, but she needs to go."

Michelle pouted. She had been looking forward to speaking and befriending the new girl, and now even more, because she found that she knows French, but it seemed to her like that should wait.

"I'll see you later, Michelle!" Alice said and she waved her hand, as her other free hand was being pulled away by Mei Lin. She allowed herself to be dragged by the Chinese girl, and after a while, she realized why Mei Lin had compelled her to come with her with such difficulty.

Elizaveta and Natalya were standing a yard away from the chaos that was ensuing in the living room, leaning upon a large window. They had grave expressions and spoke very lowly, as if they didn't what any others to hear what they were saying. She could say that within their emotions that they were talking about the incident the previous day.

Their expressions somewhat lightened up when they saw Alice and Mei Lin. Natalya gave a smile and ruffled the other girl's hair.

"Welcome to the club, kid." She said, still holding onto her serious tone but failing to hide a hint of amusement to it, "Had good dreams?"

"Not really!" Alice laughed.

"Well, I hope your injuries are all gone now!" Elizaveta cheer-heartedly said, "Because we have something to say. About your residence."

The short blonde creased her eyebrows. "Well, what about it?

"Well, technically as you know, you cannot return to your home." Natalya took a small glass of vodka from the nearby table and fiddled with it before continuing, "Those fellows must've surrounded your house and must be expecting your arrival any minute."

Alice looked a bit disappointed hearing this, and she gave out an upset sigh. "Well, where do I go, then?"

Elizaveta eyed Natalya and then faced Alice. She smiled with approval.

"Well, we were considering the proposition that you live with us."

Alice's eyes widened with surprise and joy. Did she really mean that? To join, get to know and befriend the other members and never feel lonely again? To have a real family again?

"Yes! I mean… I'd love to, if it'll be of no burden."

Elizaveta smiled again and then stepped forward to hug her tightly. Alice found herself giving in and returned it. After a while passed with Alice and Elizaveta continuing the same emotion with Natalya and Mei Lin joining them, she heard a soft murmur through her blonde strands from her newly found friend.

"Welcome home."

* * *

><p>The preferred tranquillity and peace of Edelstein Manor were broken by a shrill shriek of protest and pain, which sent the spectacled aristocrat to jolt up from his nap, as well as his cat to leap and run away from the comfort of its master's lap. The sound lasted for about 10 seconds straight, and if Roderich hadn't closed his ears half-way through, he was sure it could have made his deaf.<p>

His forehead furrowed into an irritated frown. This was the seventh time the same action was happening, and it was all from the same person – the blonde-haired American, Alfred F. Jones. But this time, the musical genius had enough and was determined he had a word with either his guardian or the idiot himself.

He may be suffering a lot from his wounds, but that doesn't mean that he could destroy the peacefulness of Roderich's house.

Keeping himself composed and ready to present himself strictly to the louts upstairs, he gently put down the cat from his lap and walked towards his ex-wife's bedroom upstairs, which was now turned into an infirmary which provided solace for anyone who had been messing with their much-hated enemies, the girls.

"Ow! Watch it, will you Gil?" Alfred had fidgeted too much which resulted in his albino, 'filled-to-the-brim-with-awesome' friend, to pour too much antiseptic in his wound than necessary in accident. That made another ear-piercing cry to come out from the self-proclaimed hero.

Gilbert placed his hands on his hips and sighed in exasperation. "Seriously, stay still. Either you let awesome do the nursing work, or don't get involved in fights at all! Your choice."

Alfred looked at his friend with a shocked face. "Did you really mean that?" He asked, almost bursting with self-pity, "...I thought you were my friend, dude! And you betrayed me!"

The albino guffawed loudly hearing his friend's response.

"Well, you get beaten up by your Russian girlfriend, every. Single. Time you do." Gilbert stated out the fact, which burst Alfred's bubble of heroic selfishness. The albino saw him cringe a bit when he said that and within moments the amused look in Alfred's face was replaced by an angered frown.

"She's Belarusian, not Russian. And she's not my girlfriend."

Gilbert ignored him. "Yo, Antonio!" He called out to his tanned friend, finally deciding that he was being ignored too much like Alfred's twin, who was sitting a couple of beds away from them, equally injured like Alfred, but he was much less noisy. He hadn't spoken a word since he had been brought into the hospital due to his wounds, thanks to Elizaveta and her frying pan, and even after he recovered, he just turned his body and sat towards the right hand of his bed, with his back being shown to his friends, clearly mentioning that he wasn't interested in any type of conversation and preferred to be alone. Even when his much loved Lovino came to see him (Reluctantly), he said he was tired and dismissed his visit.

Antonio's thoughts were pre-occupied. All of them drifted towards that sister of Lars, that pretty blonde-haired Alice Van Willigen. Try as he might, he could not get her out of his mind. He tried thinking of anything else, but all thoughts somehow lead to thinking of her. It made him frustrated.

He clutched his black locks of hair in frustration. Why was she so important anyway? She was just another ordinary girl. Hell, he had seen much more hot girls than her, those of who are willing to share a bed with him and love him like no other. But what was with that particular 19-year-old girl? He couldn't pinpoint it.

He shook his head to get rid of his ever-growing confusions and thoughts just as he heard Gilbert calling him. He turned his head back to face him and gave a weak smile.

"S... si, mi amigo?" The Spanish said, rubbing his head in embarrassment, returning to his air-headed façade,"I was pre-occupied with something else..."

"Well you better not be," Alfred loudly butted in, even before Gilbert can even open his mouth to reply, "'coz tomorrow we're gonna go to Lars' house again, and see if there's some clues that will lead to his sister. OW! I know you did THAT on purpose, Gil!"

The albino gave a triumphant smirk as Alfred frantically rubbed his sore wound which was poured with another dose of antiseptic, courtesy of Gilbert's revenge. Antonio turned his head away from them and resumed back to his thoughts.

His effort to gain Alice's Zodiac gem was futile, but that wasn't the only reason why he wanted her to come with them. He just hoped that perhaps, just perhaps, she might agree to stay and live with him, and become somewhat like a mother to Lovino. He blushed at the thought.

But now it was all down the drain because of that Hungarian and her troupe. He can never see her any more, and just when he had gained her trust, Hèdervàry just had to jump in and make her believe all of it was only to gain her gem. He balled his fists at the memory of it.

He was going to make Elizaveta pay.

He played with his fingers, contemplating a plan in which Elizaveta was going to suffer the same pain. He had to share his plan with the others, so that they can get their fair share of revenge at them, as well as his. He smiled darkly.

Things will be just going perfectly.

Meanwhile, as he returned to reality, he heard Alfred cursing to Gilbert at the top of his breath at how he wished he had come a bit earlier so that he might have overcome Natalya and Elizaveta by his heroic skills and would have made an escape with the girl. Antonio couldn't have smiled better. Everyone in their group hated them.

Suddenly, the wide, elaborated door of the infirmary opened with a loud bang, and revealed Roderich Edelstein and thick-eye browed Arthur Kirkland, both of them flaming with anger and irritation. Alfred let out a squeal seeing his care taker, and jumped towards him and clung to the elder's arm, forgetting his wounds and refusing to let go.

"Artie!" Alfred exclaimed, getting melodramatic whenever he had the chance, "I know you care for me and that's why you visited me, right? Right?"

Arthur's eyebrows furrowed even further in irritation as Alfred rubbed his head with his arm, seeking for attention.

"L... leave me, you git!" Arthur tried to wriggle his way out of Alfred's death grasp, but the younger blonde had an iron grip and was reluctant to let go. He gave up in desperation as Gilbert laughed loudly seeing this show of affection.

Roderich wasn't near amused, and he grew more irritated. He cleared his throat to catch their attention. Alfred released his clinging, Gilbert stopped cackling, and Antonio was snapped out of his thoughts, and looked towards the aristocrat who looked like he was about to make a declaration.

"The noise you make is too loud." He said angrily, pointing towards a guilt-filled Alfred who was now looking sober. "Either you cut down your voice, Alfred, or I cut down your daily supply of Hamburgers."

Alfred's eyes widened as big as saucers in surprise and disbelief. His blue eyes began to grow misty with tears as he looked at Roderich with a beyond shocked face.

When Roderich didn't move of a muscle of his deadpanned face, and continued to stare at him coldly, Alfred held his head down in defeat.

"Everyone's conspiring against me. What's a hero to do if he isn't even being honored by his own people?"

Arthur and Roderich mentally slapped their foreheads on hearing his stupidity. Gilbert resumed his cackling and Antonio, realizing that there was nothing important coming, resumed back to his thinking.

"Gentlemen, please. Calm down." Arthur tried to keep them still so that they can turn their attention to what he was about to say. When he realized that they were not going to reciprocate, he furrowed his forehead in anger. He let them argue and chatter incessantly, and did not stop them. It would be useless. He had to wait for the opportune moment.

But that never came. Arthur realized he couldn't have it any more. Without another moment's warning, he banged the desk near him hard, so hard that you could have actually heard the 'crack' signifying that it was in a broken state.

"QUIET!" He bellowed louder than how Alfred had when Gilbert poured antiseptic into his wound.

And then, came the satisfactory silence. Arthur's chest was heaving up and down to compensate for his lack of oxygen while shouting. He was still angry as he faced each and every one of them, reading their emotion.

Both Alfred and Gilbert had a surprised 'whoa-dude-you-could-actually-do-that' face while Antonio remained impassive. Roderich, on the other hand, had a stern and un-amused face, probably because the British man had broken HIS property while he was trying to keep them on bay.

A while passed. "Thank you, Mr. Kirkland," Roderich said sarcastically, being not at all amused at the sight of 'someone he thought to be a mature man' shouting at youngsters, "Now I would appreciate it if you would say your part and we shall all depart."

Even though Arthur was embarrassed hearing that, he tried to hide it. He squared his shoulders and began as if to proclaim some law.

"Francis had….."

"You made out with Francis, again?" Alfred butted in, even before Arthur can finish his sentence. He pinched the bridge of his nose in disgust, mocking him. "Seriously, Iggy. You should be private about these kind of stuff…"

Arthur's jaw froze in mid-air. He closed his opened mouth, then opened it again, and repeated this several times like a goldfish. Gilbert placed his hands on his hips like Super man and resumed his cackling.

"Kesesesesese~ So Alfred is right?"

Arthur was so shocked at hearing the first reply that, after coming back to reality, glared deathly at Alfred much like how Natalya did when she fought him. Alfred yelped seeing him and tried to hide behind Gilbert.

"I'll deal with you later….." He sneered, and continued with his unfinished sentence.

"As I was saying, before I was so rudely interrupted by a certain someone who likes to prank others by saying false facts…." Arthur eyed a sober-looking Alfred.

"But it is true!"

"….. to which, gentlemen, please do. NOT. FALL for. He is a bit mentally unstable."

Alfred pouted, crossed his arms and booed like a child.

"Francis had located the girls' hideout," Arthur began, and ignored the booings from his ward.

Suddenly, as quickly as he said those words, they all looked seriously at him. This got everyone interested, especially Antonio. He perked up after nearly falling asleep hearing the usual arguments between Alfred and Arthur.

Was this the great chance Antonio was waiting for? He can finally 'repay' Elizaveta for all her doings on him? It was just great. He was mentally jumping hysterically.

"Well, where is it?" Antonio asked, trying to sound casual and not too interested in the matter, for he did not want anyone to get suspicious about his irrational behavior. Arthur shrugged before wrinkling his forehead as he tried to decipher the French word written upon a chit of paper which he taken before he began his speech.

"It's uh… Lè T…Treeport."

"Trèport," Corrected Roderich, "It was Francis' summer Villa. He had taken me there before."

Arthur's eyes glinted a bit with jealousy for a micro second as he eyed the aristocrat before facing the others to tell a little more, that made Antonio nearly jump up to the sky with joy.

"We will be leaving tonight. Make sure you have enough ammunition and weapons, though I seriously doubt that will be necessary. And don't forget that gem-holder, we can not forget those."

Antonio smiled again. His inner feeling of 'everything will go just fine' was washing him over, again.

* * *

><p><em>DUDES AND DUDETTES!~ I HAVE OFFICIALLY COMPLETED 3k+ WORDS ON THIS CHAPTER, AND SO I SHALL HOLD A BANQUET TO ALL OF YOU WHO READ THIS STORY WHERE IGGY SHALL PROPOSE TO ME, AND YOU ALL GUYS WILL JUST GROW JEALOUS AND FULL OF REGRET AND…. *drools* Sorry, where was I? Oh, I was just day dreaming. There's no way in hell that I'll let my precious Iggy to that pervert! He's mine. :DD<em>

_Thank you for all the reviews everyone~ And I shall look forward to more constructive criticism and I shall try to update my chapters more quickly. But… school… is….*cries in a corner*_


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